Janus of Cyprus

Janus of Cyprus (1375-29 June 1432) was King of Cyprus from 9 September 1398 to 29 June 1432, succeeding James I of Cyprus and preceding John II of Cyprus.

Biography
Janus was the son of King James I of Cyprus (who was imprisoned in the Republic of Genoa) and Helvis of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, and he was named after the Roman god Janus, who founded the city of Genoa, where Janus was born. James was released after granting Genoa commercial privileges, and Janus became king on his father's death in 1398. In 1402 he attempted to take back the Genoese-held city of Famagusta on Cyprus, but the French governor of Genoa Jean le Maingre arranged for the city to remain in Genoese hands. In 1406, the Genoese failed to take Limassol, and Janus was forced to deal with attacks by the greedy Genoese as well as pirates and adventurers. Sultan Barsbay of the Bahri Sultanate, angry at Janus' inaction over the attacks on Egypt by Cypriot pirates, sent armies to invade the island in 1424, 1425, and 1426, and Tangriver Mohamed and Inal el-Kakimi led a full-scale invasion in 1426. The army of 3,000 Mamluks, Turks, and Arabs took Limassol, and Janus was captured at the 7 July 1426 Battle of Chirokitia. After ten months in captivity, he paid the ransom, and he fortified Kyrenia as Nicosia was taken by the Muslims. The defeats at the hands of the Egyptians led to local peasants electing their own leaders, with a man named Alexis becoming King of Lefkoniko. After ten months, the uprising was put down, and Alexis was executed on 12 May 1427. Janus died in 1432.